Nobody puts gymnast in a corner. Not this quad, anyway.
For years, gymnastics fans have bemoaned the 10-second-stand-in-the-corner-before-tumbling-to-catch-your breath of women's floor exercise. Yes, some try to dress it up with arm movements and body waves and that sort of thing, but -- to geek out a bit here -- that's like doing a split jump at the end of a tumbling run to disguise the fact that landing and not moving one's feet is just too hard to do. We all know what's happening, even if they're trying to hide it.
The FIG has finally done something The Corner Problem, writing into the new code of points that henceforth, there will be a deduction for gymnasts who stand in the corner doing nothing for too long (or, really, who stand in the corner, period). In coming up with this, someone no doubt went into the archives room and looked at floor routines from say, 1968, where the gymnastics and tumbling were melded together far more seamlessly than they are today (Case in point here.) Of course, the tumbling was a bit easier then.
So, an early forecast for trend of the quad: a gymnast who does a whole lot of none-too-strenuous choreography facing the corner right before a tumbling pass, followed by a quick half turn and running into tumbling (Case in point: Anastasia Grishina's floor routine at this weekend's Russian Championships, here. Watch what she does before her final pass, especially.)
Will this help bolster artistry? Maybe. But it will need to be packaged a bit less obviously. Otherwise everyone will know what's happening, and we might even become nostalgic for the end-of-pass split jump.
Your take: How do you feel about the requirement that gymnasts not be allowed to stand in the corners too long before tumbling? Please leave a comment below.
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